Chinese authorities have detained yet another Tibetan writer who is also a monk in Ngaba area in present-day Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibetan province of Amdo.
Lomik, 27, was detained around 11. 30 pm on 12 April 2015. Lomik’s detention followed the detention of another well-known Tibetan writer Shok-jang on 16 March 2015. Like Shokjang, Lomik is being held at an undisclosed location.
Early this month, exile Tibetan media organizations reported the detention of Tibetan writer Shokjang aka Druk-lo in March this year. Shokjang’s detention was later confirmed when a Tibetan blogger named Jangda from Amdo shared a post on WeChat calling on the release of his writer friend: “My friend [Shok-jang] has not committed crime, bring him back.” According to information received by TCHRD, Shokjang was arrested on 19 March 2015, days after the 56th anniversary of the 10 March Tibetan National Uprising Day of 1959.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has recently obtained a book written by Lhaden, a Tibetan writer and activist living inside Tibet. This latest book, titled ‘Resistance Through Cooperation With Law’ (Tib: Tungol Trimlug’) is Lhaden’s second, published and now being translated into English by TCHRD.
TCHRD presents an excerpt from Lhaden’s latest book translated from its original Tibetan version. He writes under the pseudonym, ‘Di Lhaden’. In this excerpt, Di Lhaden writes about his motivation for writing the book, expresses his belief that Tibet’s non-violent struggle has the potential to achieve genuine peace and reconciliation between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government. Di Lhaden asks the China to acknowledge, rather than violently crush, the legitimate grievances and aspirations of the Tibetan people, which he believes are in accord with the laws and constitution of the People’s Republic of China. He believes that Tibet’s non-violent struggle is inspired by the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
This book represents one of the many voices of millions of Tibetans inside Tibet who live in a system that penalizes human rights activists as criminals and denies basic human rights and freedoms enshrined in the Chinese domestic law and international human rights law. Read in the context of China’s recent rhetoric on rule of law, Lhaden’s book presents a formidable challenge to Chinese claims of respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights according to ‘rule of law’.
“I hate lies and intrigues. The purpose of my life is to secure truth and justice”
– Gyitsang Takmig
![Activist writer Gyitsang Takmig in his prison uniform in an undated photo. [Credit: Tibet Times]](https://tchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Takmig-pic.jpg)
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) welcomes the release of Tibetan activist writer Kelsang Tsultrim aka Gyitsang Takmig who was unjustly sentenced to four years in prison for engaging in ‘separatist’ activities in 2011.
TCHRD believes that the activist writer was punished for his peaceful resistance to destructive Chinese policies. His prison sentence represents yet another attempt at silencing individual Tibetans who speak truth to power and demand accountability from the Chinese government over its policy failure in Tibet.
“The greatest mental suffering of Tibetans is not that there is no place to complain about their sufferings but that they are not allowed to complain.”
~ Nyen
Two Tibetan writers, Jangtse Donkho (pen name: Nyen/“The Wrathful”) and Buddha were released earlier today on 20 June 2014 after serving four years in Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.
Jangtse Donkho was arrested on 21 June 2011 from his home in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County and accused of writing a “reactionary” essay entitled ‘What Human Rights Do We Have Over Our Bodies?’ which commented on the Chinese government’s bloody suppression of the 2008 Uprising. The essay was published in the Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain) literary journal, which was later banned. Jangtse Donkho was 33 at the time of his arrest. Before his arrest, he was working as a researcher at Kyungchu (Ch: Qiongxi) town, Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Donkho wrote the book Rolang (Eng: ‘Zombie’) and along with Buddha, edited a few more journals including Du Rab Kyi Nga (Eng: ‘Consciousness of the Century’).
Buddha is a writer, poet, and medical doctor whose work is regarded as influential in Tibetan society. He was detained on 26 June 2011 at the hospital where he worked in Ngaba County town. He was 34 at the time.
Tibetan writer Tsultrim Gyaltsen, also known as Shokdril, and his friend Yulgyal, from Diru County, Eastern Tibet, have been sentenced to thirteen and ten years of prison respectively, according to a source from inside Tibet.
They were believed to have been sentenced on 28 October 2013.
On 27 September 2013, in defiance of the Chinese government, Tibetans, including those from Mowa and Monkhyim villages, Diru County, not only refused to fly the Chinese national flags, but also threw them in the Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween/Nu) river.
Since then, Tibetans in the area have been protesting against the Chinese government policies.
On 28 September 2013, more than a thousand Tibetans gathered and launched hunger strikes throughout the night in front of the offices of the People’s Government in Diru County.
Writer, essayist, blogger, chronicler, environmentalist and amateur photographer Kunga Tsayang has been released after serving almost five years’ of imprisonment for allegedly writing political essays criticizing Chinese policies in Tibet.
According to reliable information received by TCHRD, Kunga Tsayang, who is also a monk from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery and wrote under a pen name “Sun of Snowland” (Tibetan: Gang Nyi) was released at around 8.30 am on 12 January 2014 from a prison in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province.
A source with contacts in Tibet told TCHRD that after release, Kunga Tsayang went to Labrang Monastery and from there on 14 January 2014, he returned to his hometown in Chikdril County in Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, where a grand ceremony was held to celebrate his release. Local Tibetans, both young and old, came in droves bearing ceremonial scarves, as they burned juniper leaves and scattered ‘windhorse prayer flags’ (Tib: lungta) in the air to celebrate his release.
TCHRD has translated two poems composed by the versatile young Tibetan writer Tsultrim Gyaltsen aka Shogdril who was detained late last week in the middle of night from his home at Tengkhar Village in Shamchu Township in Diru (Ch: Biru) County, Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tsultrim Gyaltsen, 27, and his friend, Yugyal, 26, continue to remain in secret detention since 12 October 2013. [For more information, please click here]
Both the poems, Ugly Lhasa and God Must Die were published in October 2012 on www.tibetcul.com, a website run by Tibetans inside Tibet. It seems the author had meant to complete the first poem Ugly Lhasa as it is still appended with a “To be continued”. Unsurprisingly, the second poem generated much criticism for its seemingly blasphemous views against religious belief. In fact, Shogdril castigates religious dogma and prevailing fatalism among believers, so his compatriots could wake up from their slumber of resignation and face life’s challenges on its own terms. It is a poem filled with existential angst, reminiscent of Nietzsche and Lu Xun. In God Must Die, twice Shogdril quotes Lu Xun.
A Tibetan writer and his friend, a former police officer, were detained late last week in an ongoing crackdown at Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
According to information received by TCHRD, writer Tsultrim Gyaltsen, 27, was detained by a group of County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers during a night raid at his home in Tengkhar Village in Shamchu Township, Diru County.
On 11 October 2013 at around 1 am, PSB officers detained Tsultrim Gyaltsen, who used to write under the pseudonym Shogdril (Eng: Morning Bell), from his home on accusations that he “engaged in separatist activities and disrupted social stability by spreading rumours” during the recent unrest in Diru County.
The Diru County PSB officers searched his house and confiscated his mobile phone, computer, books and other documents before detaining him.
A prominent Tibetan writer, editor and teacher was released earlier today after the completion of his three-year prison term from Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.
According to information received by TCHRD, Jolep Dawa, the founder and editor of a Tibetan language journal called Durab Ki Nga (This Century’s Self) was released at around 9 am on 30 September 2013, after being imprisoned in Mianyang for three years on trumped up charges of “separatism”. At the time of his sentencing, Jolep Dawa was 39 and a father of two.
Jolep Dawa was arrested by state security officers on 1 October 2010 in Chengdu and was detained for a year at Jinchuan County Detention Centre before his sentencing. After his arrest, Chinese police raided the bookstore cum DVD rental store (run by Dawa’s wife Zamlha) and confiscated his personal computer and diary along with some of his writings.
Gangkye Drupa Kyab is a writer, poet, teacher and a father of two who was sentenced early this month to five years and six months in prison for alleged political activities.
Gangkye Drupa Kyab was first detained on the night of 15 February 2012 by a group of about 20 Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers from his home in Serta (Ch: Seda) County. His house was raided and his wife, Wangchuk Lhamo, was given no explanation despite repeated appeals at the time of detention. Since then, for 17 months, his whereabouts remained unknown to family and friends until his sentencing on 1 August 2013.
Choenyi Woeser, an exile Tibetan journalist and a childhood friend of Drupa Kyab told TCHRD that local Tibetans consider Drupa Kyab a highly conscientious individual and teacher, having a great love and respect for Tibetan culture and language.